Pelosi Discovers Her Inner Fiscal Hawk

Nancy Pelosi insists: “We have to look at that war with a green eyeshade on.” She is talking about the war in Afghanistan–with anticipation that President Obama will increase resources for the war effort. Increased troops to fight our enemies in Afghanistan will require more money for this effort, of course. And Pelosi and her comrades (especially, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey) want to raise taxes to pay for this. Look who all of a sudden has become a fiscal hawk! Here are preliminary details:

Obey and several other senior Democrats have proposed a graduated surtax, beginning in 2011, to pay for the war. Their bill would impose a 1% surtax on people earning less than $150,000. The tax hike would be higher for people earning between $150,000 and $250,000 a year, and double that for people with higher incomes. The bill does not give exact figures for what upper surtax rates would be, but says that they would be high enough to cover the previous year’s war costs.